A few guys were sitting at the bar at Chubby Rain House of Tunes in Poplar Grove Wednesday night, joking with bar co-owner Di Currier as she served drinks.

Singles sat in church pews painted blue, and couples at high tables, all facing a 26-foot-wide stage raised four feet high. They chatted occasionally.

Mostly, though, everybody was listening to Eric Currier, a 23-year-old from Willowbrook, who was singing and playing an acoustic guitar with smooth fervor. One minute, he was fast-talking to tunes, and the next, he was a near dead-ringer for the sensitive 1970s singer/songwriter James Taylor.

Then, in walks Nick Billups, a short guy wearing a red cowboy hat.

And the place was up for grabs.

Billups, 19, of Loves Park had never set foot before in Chubby Rain, a two-story, live-music-only bar and eatery that opened three months ago. But he's well-known by the regulars. That's because his brother, Anthony Billups, 21, who has been playing guitar for nearly two years, sings at open-mike night there on Wednesdays and talks about Nick.

Nick, who is developmentally disabled and was escorted by his parents, Tauna and Doug, put his arm around the women, jumped into the arms of at least one guy, clapped hard, smiled big, danced and hugged his brother after he sang a love song for his family.

Anthony, wearing a cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes and cowboy boots, penned the ode after recovering a year ago from blindness that turned out to be temporary.

For the Billups, open-mike night is a blessing.

"To be able to watch him sing one night and play baseball the next is something," his mom said as his dad videotaped Anthony's performance on a $50,000 stage set-up that includes a 32-channel mixing board. Anthony is in his fourth year of a college baseball scholarship.

Other open-mike-night-goers and organizers at Chubby Rain take away other positives from the weeknight musical assemblies. Here's what a few of the 60 people at the bar on Wednesday said:

You get to hear good music, and it's free. "I like to see the guys play, to show their talent, not like karaoke," said Don Mackie, 45, of Poplar Grove, a guitar and vocalist for the classic rock band Mack Attack. He works at a local food processing plant. "It's cool."

"There are a lot of really talented people who sing in their basements and make the walls happy, but now they can come here," said Peggy DeSousa, 54, Poplar Grove.

It's so for the individualists. "It's an awesome set-up, and you get to see a lot of individuals" do their thing, said Andrea Conner, 22, Rockford, who works in human resources. "This is kind of 'underground.' "

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You get practice and exposure. "When you play for your friends, your friends always tell you you are good. When you play at open mikes, people will not tell you're good if you're not," Anthony Billups said. "And, maybe, if you're lucky, the newspaper is there."

It's not cliquey. "I sing in a rock band, Adullam 22, but I like to play acoustic guitar by myself," said Krystee Wylder, 22, Rockford, who works as a mentor for children. She has attended open-mike night at Chubby Rain's three times and will sing solo there Wednesday, July 21. "This is friendly. I like the atmosphere."

You get to see your dreams come true and hopefully make some money. Mark and Di Currier built and opened Chubby Rain after their son, Noah, 22, was paralyzed in a car accident last year. Mark had been an accountant and commuted to Chicago from their Poplar Grove home but wanted to be closer to home to care for his son. A family of music lovers, they decided to open the bar and restaurant.

They named the place after Mark and Di saw "Bowfinger," a movie about a movie where aliens hide in raindrops.

Along with open-mike night, Chubby Rain hosts an all-ages battle of the bands show on Sunday afternoons, bands on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and karaoke on Tuesdays.

"We built this place around the stage," Mark said.

Noah, who played guitar before his accident, schedules the battles of the bands.

The couple's other son, Dustin, 16, plays in a punk band and is one of 14 individuals participating in a three-week-long open-mike night competition at Chubby Rain.

Their nephew, Eric Currier, a lumber company salesman and guitarist/singer, advanced from Wednesday's competition to the finals on Wednesday, July 28. Others who made the judges' picks to advance were Earl Polvi, Joey LaPastora and Derek Olson.

A new set of seven contestants will compete Wednesday, July 21, and the best four will advance to the finals July 28, where the top two winners will take home either an acoustic or an electric guitar.

Financially, business at Chubby Rain is building, Mark Currier said. "We're willing to make the sacrifice to pull out of our pockets because the business is still in its infancy. It's doing pretty good for as long as it's been open," he said.

"The open-mike brings people in."

Georgette Braun is a GO columnist for the Rockford Register Star. Contact her at gbraun@rrstar.com or 815-987-1331.